Poll on Rodale's Biased Reports or Not?

[Welshman]

Rick

If you check the index of advertisers (usually towards the back of the magazine) I'll think you find that only ScubaPro, Cressi and Atomic advertise. This leaves SeaQuest/AquaLung, Oceanic, Mares, Apeks and a host of other equipment manufacturers who don't.

Regards

 

[diveaway]

CincyBengalsFan

I think in some of the reviews (like yearly fin or Reg reviews) they give away a tester's choice for every manufacturer except the company is so bad that it is dangerous. In other tests they don't do that. It's just a different way of rating.

All in all I think Rodale is the 'best' of the rec diving crowd but they don't cover all aspects of diving. In their world it is basically warm tropical diving.

Ray

 

[MikeFerrara]

It certainly seems as though they are biased in faver of solo diving. In fact, for a while it looked as though they were running a promotional campaign for the sdi solo cert. I wonder what other ideas they have. I have no use for the rag.

 

[tholt576]

Like everyone else they are biased, but not so biased as to be useless. I read their stuff, talk to others, read the boards and make up my own mind.

 

[Goldminer]

All Opinion is biased (mine to) because it is made by human beings. All news sources are biased and all movie and car reviews are to. One simply needs to understand the biases by being familiar with a person or group's opinions.

Rodales has its biases. They aren't big on Hogarthian/DIR. They like computers. There are others.

Having said that I like Rodales because they are about the only North American mag that does real testing and offers real opinion. (There is some good Brit stuff out there). Most of the others just parrot the marketing material from the companies.

Read them regularly and don't take your opinion solely from them.

 

[divrnr]

Not long ago they had an article on DIR and that's what peaked my interest in DIR. Since reading their review and getting info here I'm switching slowly to DIR style and plan on a DIRF next year to re-evaluate my skills. They weren't negative but informative... I also have noted that once a product is tested and if it gets a tester's chioce or a best buy that's when I notice the manufacturer advertises and when it's bad they don't...:deal:

 

[dgangi]

I don't think it is possible to have a completely unbiased review. Humans are testing the equipment and giving "subjective" scores, and humans are always going to enter a test with some pre-conceived notion of what is good and what is bad. Therefore, there will always be some of the editors or authors personal bias included in anything they write.

That being said, I highly doubt that Rodale's is intentionally biased in any of their reviews. Any credible magazine would stand to lose a lot of subscribers if that secret was found out. No respectable business person would allow that much risk to enter into their business. It's much more economical to piss off a manufacturer and lose some ad revenue than to piss off the general public and lose your subscription base.

My only complaines about the Rodale's tests are: 1) I wish Rodale's was a little more scrutinizing in their reviews and 2) Rodale's doesn't do enough write-ups on their findings.

With respect to (1), Rodale's seems to be the Motor Trend of the diving world. Nothing out there gets really bad criticism. Everything is just "so-so" unless it is really good. C'mon -- if you hate something, then say it. Don't imply something sucks by saying it isn't as good as the others! If something is crap, then I want to know about it.

And in terms of (2), some items get only a few paragraphs (or even a few sentences). I want to know more, and it seems to me that the Rodale's editors can certainly spare a few more pages to allow for more verbose write-ups. Give me more facts. I like lots of detail.

Thx...Doug

 

[BillAllbritten]

as their reviews tend to line up with Divernet from the UK, the only other big review-centric mag I'm aware of. Also, they don't seem to hesitate to recommend lower cost models in a product line or amongst manufacturers - fins test and previous reg tests for example - can't wait to see next month's big review.

As for Tester's Choice awards going to at least one model from each manufacturer, I think it's been said many places that at any given price point, excluding real turkeys, which they do identify, there isn't going to be too much real world difference between competing products under most conditions of use.

I too would like to see BP/Wings in their reviews and I'd like to see some practical testing of the "drag" issue of various components (no, not cross-dressing ;-) )

DSAO,

Bill

 

[SeaHunt]

I voted NO. On the other hand, I think it depends.

When it comes to absolutes, they apply consistent testing criteria across the board where possible. Examples are when testing BC's they can verify a manufactures claimed buoyant lift or with regs they can hook them up to simulators to see how they perform, or computers they can verify the accuracy of the readings. With other equipment like fins, masks, snorkels, etc., it is really based on the feelings of the person doing the testing.

So, outside of the Highly Respected and biased opinions that float around the boards here or those that you dive with. Who else are you gonna believe? Your LDS?

 

[Rick Murchison]

Welshman once bubbled...
Rick

If you check the index of advertisers (usually towards the back of the magazine) I'll think you find that only ScubaPro, Cressi and Atomic advertise. This leaves SeaQuest/AquaLung, Oceanic, Mares, Apeks and a host of other equipment manufacturers who don't.

Regards

Ok... I picked up the mag again...
Here's who's advertising (manufacturers) in that issue (July 2002) - in Alabama. I don't know if Scuba Diving does it, but I do know that most national mags have regional ads, so what we see here may not be what someone sees in Wyoming...
Some of these had more than one ad... ScubaPro had none.
---------------------
Princeton Tec
Sea & Sea
Sherwood
Bare
Cressi
SeaLife
deepoutdoors
UK
Atomic
Boker
DUI
Maxtec
Seal
Innovative Designs
Sea Gold
Henderson
I didn't list the ones mentioned in Leisure-Pro's ad.
--------------------
Rick